“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(The object for the 71st envelope experiment was the first draft of a poem Jane and I wrote for Bill Gallagher’s birthday, which fell on Friday, July 1st. We wrote it first aloud in the car as we drove about. Jane then typed up what we could remember; we corrected it as shown on page 51, then Jane copied it over to give Bill, along with a cake. This first draft was typed on yellow paper; I folded it as shown to insert it in the usual double envelope, after sandwiching it between two pieces of Bristol. More details later.

(Jane had no idea of what Seth would talk about during the session, although both of us hoped he would discuss the events of last Friday evening, September 23, at home. Present were Bill and Peggy Gallagher, Barbara Ingold, Jane and myself. Jane has written up an account of her experience, and Peggy took partial notes. Copies of both accounts will be attached to this session. I will also add notes as the session unfolds.

(Seth desired to come through Friday evening, since we had obviously set the stage through our conversation. Jane and Barbara had also helped because of their talk before the arrival of the Gallaghers. Jane denied Seth permission to speak, and he agreed. Later Jane began to give impressions on her own, in trance. All of the data concerned Barbara, who verified several striking points.

(Jane resumed after a break, and her trance deepened considerably. Later she said it was her deepest trance ever. Jane began to speak in a halting manner, her voice dwindled, and she called my name as if in supplication. She lay on the floor on her back. She called me once again; as I went to her she burst into tears; her crying was strong and highly charged; it seemed obvious she was responding emotionally to an experience of Barbara’s of an early age; Jane seemed to have attained a state beyond words. It took some time for her to come out of the trance, with what little help I could offer.

(Indeed, Jane slipped back into it several times, at brief intervals. Barbara could verify none of this experience, which would be the case were it buried in the subconscious. Bill Gallagher took us on a ride in the hopes the cold night air would help Jane snap out of it; so at 1:00 in the morning we were bouncing through Elmira, Elmira Heights, and Horseheads. The therapy worked however.

(Jane was considerably frightened by this experience, since it was totally unexpected and we were not prepared. I was resentful to some extent, feeling we were on display in some manner. Jane told me that toward the end of the experience she felt as though she were in a deep pit with smooth sides. She had no images all evening.

(Jane began speaking in a rather unusual jerky manner, pausing after every couple of words. Her eyes were closed until otherwise noted. Her voice was stronger than usual, but not loud.)

(Break at 9:16. Jane was dissociated as usual. Both of us were somewhat surprised at the early break. Jane’s eyes had stayed closed, her voice good. The peculiar pauses had more or less continued, although they decreased when she resumed at 9:26.)

(This because Jane and I have vowed since Friday that there will be no more such uncontrolled episodes, even though good material was obtained.)

(Break at 9:47. Jane was out as usual. Her eyes began to open toward the end of the delivery, her pace was better, her voice still on the stronger side.

(Jane resumed with her eyes closed at 9:57.)

(At 9:59 Jane took the envelope for our 71st experiment from me without opening her eyes. She held it to her forehead and paused but briefly.)

(Break at 10:10. Jane was dissociated as usual, and her eyes remained closed.)

(See the copy of the envelope object on page 51, and the notes on the page 55. As stated there, I had forgotten the contents of the test envelopes. When the time came to ask questions this evening, I decided to consider the data already received as specific enough. Actually one could ask many questions, whether knowing the object or not. Jane said she had no images while speaking.

(“The impression of something swirling about, as leaves in a wind.” Our interpretation here was that the swirling and leaves data referred to the mention of a garden in the poem used as object. See page 51. This may be correct. Also according to Seth after break however, the swirling was to have led Jane to frosting. The birthday cake we gave Bill Gallagher on July 1st was frosted. The poem used as object was written for this occasion.

(“And a staircase.” Jane at once interpreted this data as referring to the staircase she must climb in order to reach Peggy Gallagher’s office, on the second floor at the newspaper office where Peggy works. Peggy of course was present at the small birthday party we gave Bill on the evening of July 1.

(Another staircase interpretation here may concern our own steep flight of back stairs here at the apartment. We live on the second floor. Since it was a pleasant summer evening on July 1, we held the party out on the back lawn, leaving the cake upstairs in our apartment as a surprise for Bill. When the time came to get the cake Jane and I went upstairs together, lit the candles on the cake while hiding on the stairs, then carried the cake out to the party.

(“Six plus one.” Bill Gallagher’s birthday is on July 1—six plus one for a total of seven. The poem used as object was written by Jane and me for the birthday occasion which occurred on July 1.

(“A pen.” See the copy of the object on page 51. My corrections on the object were made with pencil. Jane made her corrections with a pen.

(“Small wavering blue lines. Something written by an old hand perhaps, with thin wavering lines.” Jane’s corrections on the object were made with a blue pen, which appears quite dark on the yellow paper upon which the poem was typed. Her corrections are small, but not wavering. The old and wavering data puzzled us, and we missed out here because we did not interpret the emotional charges involved, as Seth did.

(“I have a stable or horse connection.” This is another instance where Seth verifies our own interpretation. Jane very nearly did not mention her idea here, thinking at first it was too “far-out.” She finally told me that when she first looked at the envelope object during break, she read my penciled word “Man-a-me,” to the right of the poem used as object, as “Man-O-War,” which is the name of a very famous race horse. It is incidentally the only horse’s name that Jane knows, she said.

(This of course implies that Jane translated the same impression on a subconscious basis for Seth, misreading and all. Possible?

(“A circumstance involving a policeman.” This refers to a long and involved story told us by Peggy Gallagher during the evening of the birthday party, for which Jane and I wrote the poem used as object. Peg’s news made an impression and Jane and I still remember it. Very briefly, it concerns the behavior of a local psychiatrist and his wife—one of those continuing affairs that have been well known locally for some time, yet never getting into the newspaper.

(“A connection with woods.” Our own interpretation here is that woods refers to the literal Biblical Garden of Gethsemane, which is spoofed in the poem used as object. Jane says the actual garden was not a formal garden, a cultivated type, but rather contained olive trees, etc., and much growth of this kind. Seth’s blanket endorsement after break implies, again, that this is the correct interpretation.

(“Connection with a leaf or autumn.” See the data on page 55. As then, we think the leaf data here refers to the garden mentioned in the poem used as object. But also we think the autumn data here grows out of the swirling data on page 55, and Seth’s attempt to get Jane to give voice to frosting. The autumn data here could have grown out of the interpretation on Jane’s part of Seth’s frosting impression.

(“With a 1964 or ‘65 event.” We are not sure. Jane thinks this refers to her writing some poems for Peg’s birthday also. She believes she did this in January of 1966 however. Jane thinks the idea of this data is correct, in that she wrote the poems for Peg before she wrote the one for Bill’s birthday six months later.

(First Question: Is this old hand male or female? “I am not sure, though I suspect male. The hand is not a typically male hand however, but more delicate perhaps.” Seth is correct, in that the old reference here does concern Bill Gallagher and his subjective feelings [the male], on the evening of his birthday party, for which the envelope object was written. Jane and I do not especially see any connection with the delicate hand reference however.

(Jane resumed at 10:46.)

(End at 10:49. Jane was out as usual, her voice quiet. She commented that she wished the envelope data had been more specific, although it did contain some good points, and there seemed to be no doubt that Seth had tuned in on the correct situation, object, etc.

(Jane said she couldn’t help contrasting this more mundane and quiet and safe approach with the events of the trance of last Friday evening, involving Barbara Ingold, and the quite specific data, including dates and place names, physical descriptions, etc., that manifested itself then.

(Peggy Gallagher has partial notes on last Friday’s events, and a copy of those, as well as Jane’s own version, will be attached to this session.)